Roger Gitlin: Thoughts on avoiding the Maywood situation

SCV Voices

The Obama regime has come out of the closet and taken on the state of Arizona. The Attorney General has filed suit challenging the Grand Canyon State’s new immigration law.

The Feds have done zip to protect American citizens against this invasion of illegal immigrants trafficking humans and drugs into the United States. Now, Attorney General Eric Holder accuses Arizona of second guessing Washington, D.C.

The suit names Arizona and its Gov. Jan Brewer as defendants, and the Feds claim “preeminent authority.”

Holder has chosen U.S. Attorney Tony West to head up the government’s team. You may remember West was the San Francisco lawyer who defended the Gitmo 9, a group of Muslim terror suspects. West successfully defended “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh and helped negotiate a plea arrangement giving the then-21-year-old traitor a 20-year federal sentence. Now the head of the Attorney General’s Civil Division will do his best to usurp Arizona Senate Bill 1070 prior to the law’s implementation July 29.

So, it’s on.

Brewer said with confidence, “We’ll see you in court,” and I do believe the governor, and SB 1070, will prevail.

What a massive waste of time and funds squandered by President Barack Obama, and what hypocrisy displayed by this regime.

Holder decries that Arizona’s “patchwork” of immigration laws will only create more problems. If that’s true, then why doesn’t the president enforce U.S. Penal Code 1334, which expressly forbids “sanctuary cities?” Aren’t those city laws, such as Los Angeles’ Special Order 40 allowing refuge for illegal immigrants, also creating more problems? Emphatically, these sanctuary laws do violate current American law. And in California, sanctuary cities Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, along with some 28 other cities and counties throughout America, violate federal law and California Penal Code 834b.

Our border with Mexico remains out of control and unsecured. The mayhem wrought by these illegal immigrants is overwhelming. The real issue, however, is money. Arizona is going broke. Last year, Arizona spent $2.7 billion on illegal immigrants in the form of health care, welfare, incarceration of criminals and K-12 education. Arizona cannot sustain this economic strain.

According to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, county taxpayers pay $1 billion annually for health care, food stamps for the children of illegal immigrants and incarceration of those convicted of crimes in our state. The figure does not include K-12 costs that are borne by California.

Yesterday’s sobering news release by the highly respected Federation of Immigration Reform reports the costs of illegal immigrants in the United States is a staggering $113 billion annually. FAIR regularly appears before Congress to render its reports, and I suspect it will officially appear before a number of Congressional committees to deliver this shocking report.

FAIR argues there are two choices on the immigration debate: One choice is to pursue a strategy that discourages future illegal immigration and helps to ameliorate the current illegal immigrant population through denial of job opportunities. The other choice is to repeat the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty that invited more illegal migration.

The largest expense is $52 billion for the schooling of the native-born children of illegal immigrants.

The state of Texas reports it spends $16.4 billion on illegal immigrants, almost identical to the Lone Star State’s budget deficit.

For a look into the future of California, one need not look any further than Maywood, 8 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Maywood is geographically small, just 1.4 square miles with a mind-boggling population estimated to be about 45,000. Maywood is 97-percent Hispanic, more than half foreign-born and an estimated roughly 40 percent are illegal immigrants.

The town is lawless. I mean that quite literally. After years of radical policies, corruption and scandal, the city of Maywood has gone broke and has laid off its police and fire departments and most city employees. With its limited budget, Maywood has contracted with the county Sheriff’s and Fire department for skeletal but necessary services. Maywood is also a sanctuary city.

Maywood is represented in the state Senate by Gil Cedillo, nicknamed “one bill Gil” for his continual attempts to pass a bill granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Democrat John Perez, Speaker of the Assembly, represents Maywood.

Maywood is represented in Congress by Democrat Lucille Roybal, an unwavering campaigner for amnesty.

Could other California cities including Los Angles itself be far behind Maywood?

I believe Maywood’s problems and its open-arms policy of welcoming Mexico’s impoverished and uneducated represents just the tip of the iceberg.

I again beseech our federal government to do its job and secure the border — immediately.

Every poll supports Arizona’s new immigration law. Some polls show support of securing our southern border nearing 90 percent.

Yet the Obama machine marginalizes and deflects the real issue of importance, American jobs, while propagandizing for comprehensive immigration reform (aka amnesty). America’s unemployment will continue to rise until American voters put an end to this madness and reject these ideologues out of office.

I cannot wait for Nov. 2.Roger Gitlin is a teacher, founder of the Santa Clarita Valley Independent Minutemen and state director of the Patriot’s Coalition. His column reflects his own views and not necessarily those of The Signal.